Do Not Enter
by theglassalchemist
Summary: Itachi was long used to Deidara's sulks, it was hard not to be since he was currently living with the volatile blonde, however he wasn't quite so sure just what or who he was planning on taking his foul temper out on this time...


"Leave me alone, yeah!"

Itachi watched with interest as the blond slammed the door behind him causing little chips of paint to fall from the already wearing door frame. It was not a rare occurance for the other to have these little fits of anger, not that it made them any less amusing, but it was new for the man to lock himself alone in his work room for hours on end after the fact. Usually he would have gone to his favourite bar to have far too many drinks and no doubt hit on a countless number of girls during his stay. Itachi could only assume these were both efforts to annoy him but he could not quite bring himself to become angered at the stumbling mess that came through their door in the early hours of the morning mumbling on about some art project or another.

With a sigh the slender male turned away from the closed door, through which Deidara's mutters could still be heard, and instead chose to occupy himself with his assignment due for the end of next week. It was unlike him to leave one so late and he was in fact quite grateful for the break the other had provided him with to finish it.

It was a good few hours until his flatmate made another appearance, still ignoring Itachi as he sulked through their apartment in search of food, and Itachi knew better than to attempt to fill the silence with inane chatter. Besides, it was Deidara who did most of the talking in their relationship and contrary to popular belief Itachi was more often than not extremely willing to listen. He tended to find Deidara's rants rather… endearing. He had never come across someone so passionate about anything before and it was such a utter contrast to his own outwardly passive take on life. Itachi knew how much their differences sometimes affected the other but as far as he was concerned the artist needed some calm in his life. Itachi was sure if he were to ever co inhabit with someone even half as opinionated as himself their home would be wrecked within a mere few days.

The blond's stay in Itachi's presence was short lived. As soon as he had raided the cupboard, rendering the trip to the store Itachi had made earlier useless in one quick rummage, Deidara was gone again.

A sigh left Itachi's thin lips. With each argument they had the time spent alone grew longer and it seemed that this time the other was not exactly willing to break the silence held between them. Rising from the couch Itachi made his way across the room, a hand raising to knock on the barrier that stood between them. "Deidara, may I come in?" The tentative question was left unanswered and it was only when he gently tried the handle that a reaction was roused from the blond.

The door was wrenched open, Deidara's angry face quickly taking up the space it provided, and Itachi instantly realised this may not have been the best course of action. "What do you want, yeah?"

Leaning against the tattered frame Itachi let their eyes meet. And there it was again, that stormy passion that always threatened to tip Deidara over the edge. The raven barely even minded that it was now aimed at him, it was a trait he valued no matter what the target. Not that he would ever speak these words. He knew every ounce of kindness he showed the blond was always taken with 10 tons of salt, especially when he was in a mood such as this one. Instead he simply gave him the truth, "I want to talk."

Deidara scoffed, his azure eyes narrowing as Itachi spoke. "Well I don't want to. Not to you anyway, now get out of here."

With that quick dismissal the door was once more slammed in his face, the words of persuasion that lay on his tongue gone as fast as the quick glimpse of the other's face. Itachi frowned. Just what was Deidara doing in there? Sure he was used to him running of to finish various pieces of art but he never stuck to one piece for long and was always quick to show of the finished product - usually before discarding it without a second though, not that Itachi could fathom why. Yet this time there were no deep blue eyes filled with that excited look to greet him whenever he glanced up from his book that evening, no whining voice dragging him away from his desk to see just what had distracted Deidara for so long.

In the early hours of the morning Itachi finally gave up waiting. Picking himself up from the hard wooden chair, assignment forgotten long ago, he went to bed. Not that sleep managed to reach him once he got there. As he lay awake in his neat, near empty bedroom he could still hear the sounds of Deidara working. Sounds that were of course littered with choruses of bad language that Itachi strongly disapproved of. Turning to bury his face in the pillow he tried hard to block out the noises reaching his ears.

Eyelids fluttered open as the dim rays of sunlight reached him through his half closed curtains. It seemed that at some point during the night sleep had finally caught him and from the peaceful quiet that flooded their apartment he guessed it had dragged Deidara away too.

Never being one to lounge in bed once he had awoken Itachi pulled on a shirt before heading for the kitchen, filling the kettle and fishing out various ingredients once he got there. However, all thoughts of making breakfast in hope that it would somewhat calm his irritated room mate were gone when he saw that the door to his workroom was left ajar. He would not have been surprised if the other had managed to fall asleep at his desk, Deidara always pushed himself to hard when he was trying to finish a project. A light rap of his knuckles against it pushed the door open and Itachi frowned as his eyes caught a glimpse of what lay before the door way. Distracted by the sight he did not notice when the sound of footsteps drew closer behind him, an irritated snort barely registering in his mind.

Stepping into the room Itachi drew closer to the canvas set out before the window. A series of smooth black lines decorated here and there by stark patches of crimson filled the paper. "It's beautiful," Itachi murmured, a small smile lifting his lips as he reached out to let his fingertips follow the strokes made by the other's brush.

"Typical, yeah." Deidara's voice was dripping in sarcasm but he could not completely hide the pleasure laying beneath it at Itachi's praise. "I should have known someone as arrogant as you could only really appreciate his own portrait."

Turning to let his gaze meet the blond's Itachi raised an eyebrow. They both knew he gave similar comments to nearly all of Deidara's works but yes, there had been something different in his tone when he'd caught sight of his latest piece. Surprise.

"Thank you, Deidara." As he spoke blue eyes glanced away, a scowl pressed onto his face but Itachi didn't mind. He knew that Deidara's true emotions were only ever conveyed through art and he only had to look behind him to see what the blond's was really feeling. "Though, I do wonder… Just how many times have you seen me topless to be able to produce such a lifelike portrait."

Heat travelled up Deidara's neck as the irritation in his expression turned to rage. His mouth curled into a snarl, no doubt ready to spill countless insults at Itachi but the words never got further that blond's throat as Itachi's own lips pressed against them. The tension in his jaw weakening as the other leaned into his touch.

Pulling away the raven saw it was now Deidara's turn to be surprised, a wry smile was brought to his lips as he leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Perhaps next time you could paint a full nude."

Deidara spluttered, blush finally managing to reach his cheeks before he stormed out of his work room - heading for the front door.

"You're a bastard, yeah!"


End file.
